――What sparked the collaboration?

Takayuki Minami (hereafter, Minami): It started with the timing of us being able to carry KIJIMA TAKAYUKI hats at our stores in Aoyama and Hibiya.

Takayuki Kijima (hereafter, Kijima): Minami happened to be walking right near the venue where we were holding our exhibition. A mutual acquaintance spotted him and thought, "Since you're here, come take a look," and basically pulled him into the exhibition. And then it flowed into, "And while you're here, why don't you place an order, too?"

Minami: As you know, I'm not the type who'll do something just because someone says, "Go on, do it." And of course I knew Kijima - when I was younger, back in the days of his previous brand coeur, I visited the Daikanyama shop as a customer, and I also bought the hats he wholesaled to select shops like anyone else. After that, I knew he was holding exhibitions under the name KIJIMA TAKAYUKI, but I didn't feel like it was something I could casually drop in on. So I was really taken there by an acquaintance kind of forcefully, and it started with a conversation like, "Is this okay? Can you do this?"

Kijima: That's the first I've heard of it, so we were basically misaligned from the start. I tried to push our products, but nothing seemed to land at all, so I even wondered if you took a disliking to me.

Minami: No, not at all. The original trigger for the collaboration was actually a project that ended up falling through, but we were going to make a Graphpaper exclusive with an overseas designer, and the designer asked if we could make a hat with Kijima. But I didn't want to ask and get turned down - I didn't want to feel that disappointment - so I felt a little scared to even bring it up (laughs). Still, he absolutely insisted, so I took the plunge and asked, and you kindly agreed. Then I got a bit carried away and said something like, "If that's possible… could you maybe make exclusive hats for us, too?" and you said, "Sure," and that's how this collaboration happened.

――For you, Kijima, what kind of brand was Graphpaper?

Kijima: Well, it's an offer from the great Minami of all people (laughs). But the image I had of Graphpaper was: the product is genuinely good, and it expresses modernity and individuality through a finely calculated balance - patterns, sizing, and so on. I felt like our brand could relate to that, or rather, I kind of assumed we were doing similar things in our own way. So when Minami reached out, I absolutely wanted to do it.

Minami: That makes me very happy to hear.

KIJIMA TAKAYUKI for GP Selvage Wool 6 Panel Cap

――When you actually decided to collaborate, how did you settle on the shape and design?

Minami: I'd seen Kijima's hats at exhibitions and in the atelier, so I told him I wanted to do a cap and a hat, and we refined things from there. Using a model he already makes as a base, we talked through what to change and how. For the fabric, I brought a few of our samples, and the one I most wanted him to work with was Selvage Wool, which we also use for suits. That said, some fabrics just aren't suited to hats, so I had Kijima - who's the specialist - take a look. When he said, "Yes, it can be done," we decided on it like, "Alright, let's move forward."

Kijima: We got the broad request of "cap type" and "hat type," so I proposed what I thought would be best right now. From there, even within "caps," there are many approaches in terms of pattern cutting and silhouette. So Minami and I talked it through thoroughly to arrive at the best shape - something that would coordinate easily with clothing.

――Could you tell us the specific design points?

Kijima: For example, we kept the number of stitch lines on the brim to two. If you add more, it starts to read more and more casual. Similarly, rather than adding lots of ventilation eyelets, we put only two on the sides, which makes it look cleaner. The back adjuster also avoids hardware as much as possible - we kept it simple with hook-and-loop tape, which also allows fine size adjustment. And we inserted the brand name there to make it a design point.

Minami: A lot of caps are built with really hard interfacing, but this cap is finished soft.

Kijima: The fabric you brought is 100% wool, but it has just the right amount of body, so with this we can maintain the shape without using interfacing. When worn, it doesn't create an odd stiffness, it's easy to coordinate, and it sits on the head naturally. You can't do this kind of expression unless the material is good. We decided everything by checking each small point one by one.

Minami: We discussed things like whether two stitch lines or more were better, and how many eyelets to use, and I said I prefer not using interfacing, and asked, "I feel like this, what do you think?" and we went back and forth. Also, with sizing, Graphpaper's concept is to remove the idea of "size" in the first place, so I wanted as many people as possible to be able to wear it. And I thought using hook-and-loop tape - like our iconic chef pants - might be kind of attractive.

Kijima: Right. The belt on the back is a reference to those pants.

――What kind of balance and appearance did you have in mind when worn?

Minami: Even just within caps, there are deeper ones, shallower ones, structured ones, and shapes like what hip-hop artists might wear - there are all sorts, right. I think the first thing I said in our discussion was that I don't like deep caps.

Kijima: We have samples of many different patterns, so we looked at those together, chose the model closest to Minami's ideal, and then if there were parts he wanted to change further, we adjusted those.

――For the other style, the bucket hat - what were the design points?

Minami: Personally, I feel bucket hats are pretty difficult to wear. But when I saw Kijima's ones, they weren't "casual" at all, they were really great.

KIJIMA TAKAYUKI for GP Selvage Wool Bucket hat

――Bucket hats tend to have a strong street image. What's different, or what are your key considerations when you make them?

Kijima: Like the cap, I keep it as simple as possible. Bucket hats usually have eyelets as well, so I removed elements that would tip it into a casual direction. I'd heard Minami makes suits with this wool fabric and proposes it as a setup, so if you're going to match it with a suit, you want that degree of dressiness. In very fine details: if the stitch spacing on the side crown is wide, it instantly looks extremely casual. By making it as narrow and tight as possible, it becomes a dressier finish.

How we do that is: we add a lining so you can't see the seams, and that lets us set the spacing freely. With casual bucket hats, seam allowances are often finished with bias tape, but then the stitch width is determined by the tape width. That's actually what creates the casual feel. Also, whether you press the seam allowances between the top and side crown to one side or split them actually changes the silhouette. Pattern-wise it's a squared shape, but if you split them, the edges stand out too sharply, so by pressing to one side we do a kind of "softening" work - rounding it slightly, taking the corners off. We also finish it soft without using interfacing, and to match that we use the softest possible interfacing in the brim as well, so it's less likely to lose its shape even if you roll it up and carry it.

Minami: I see, there's a lot of depth there. You can handle it casually, but when you wear it, it looks very dressy. For me, the fabric is quite clean - it's basically suiting fabric - so I think there was also an opposite approach of "forcing" it into something super casual as a kind of contrast. But with Kijima's subtle signature - his elegance, you could say - it feels like you've taken a super-casual bucket hat and lifted it up a notch, and I really like that. And when you put it on, it lands in this exquisite balance where it suits anyone. Normally, bucket hats can unexpectedly not suit you, and they're hard to wear.

――Where is the boundary between "a hat suits someone" and "it doesn't"?

Kijima: What I've learned from doing this for a long time is that making it soft is the same as making it blend into that person. People who've never worn hats, or aren't used to them, can try on a hat very easily - you just place it on your head in front of a mirror - so when they judge good or bad, it probably takes less than a second. The instant they put it on, they think, "No, that's not it." But unless you resolve that, it's hard for them to feel it's good. So then what do you do - if it's hard and rigid, it creates discomfort, but if it's soft, it fits smoothly. And then you can make the customer pause for a moment, like, "Wait a second…" There's also that reason behind making things soft.

And even after purchase, when someone who doesn't usually wear hats puts one on and meets friends, they'll definitely get teased - "What's up today?" So if you don't make it feel as natural as possible, they'll become self-conscious. That's the kind of situation I imagine when I make hats.

In the end, I think it comes down to matching with clothing. If you look better without a hat, you don't need one. And to make someone feel that they look better with a hat, you need to eliminate that sense of discomfort. If it blends into the outfit and it becomes "You look good today," then there's meaning in what they bought.

――I see. A hat standing out equals discomfort. And the element that cancels that is softness, because it naturally blends in.

Kijima: People who like hats and wear them all the time have the ability to pull them off whether they're stiff or not. But if someone doesn't, they quit before they even get there. So to prevent that, I focus on building this silhouette in from the start. I'm actually not that interested in people who already like hats or naturally suit them; I feel a sense of challenge toward people who think hats don't suit them, or who have a bit of resistance.

Minami: I completely understand. I'd assumed you were making things more from a "designer's-eye" perspective, and that you were the opposite type from me. But hearing what you just said, the way we think is the same. I also make clothes more from a consumer viewpoint, so no matter what I do, I can probably never be anything other than a consumer. I've never wanted to make something outrageous that nobody's ever seen and have artists or celebrities wear it. I'd rather it be ordinary people - sure, people who like clothes too, but people who've worn many things and still felt unsatisfied, and then think, "But this is good." That's what I want.

Kijima: Exactly the same.

Photo by Masato Kawamura @masatokawamura_

――For you to arrive at that way of thinking, it must be after designing many different things.

Minami: It's something you only understand after trying your hand at everything from high to low, right. A skill that experience makes possible.

Kijima: If a collection is made up only of things that are extremely easy to wear, it inevitably lacks interest. So while keeping it wearable, I try to sprinkle in pieces with some design to express the brand, and I keep that in mind.

――While continuing to make staple models like bucket hats and caps…

Kijima: Actually, from a longer time perspective, they aren't really "staples." Five years ago, long-brim hats were everywhere, right. Hats change along with clothing trends. So even if it's a cap or a bucket hat, what looks like a long-term staple still changes with the times - for example, the brim angle, the slope, the length actually shift. With caps too, there was a period when, for hip-hop styles, hard, rigid ones were considered best. So it's not as simple as saying "caps are trending" or "buckets are trending" - the shapes change, and right now, this is the shape.

Minami: That's really informative.

Kijima: Even this sense of volume - if it were a few years ago, you might think it's a bit shallow, but right now this is the mood. And in three or five years, it might be even smaller.

Minami: There's a lot to it. It's true - I have moods too. Even with shirts, it's like: I want the shoulders like this, I want a placket, or I don't. It's that kind of thing, right. Our ways of thinking are similar.

KIJIMA TAKAYUKI for GP Selvage Wool Bucket hat

KIJIMA TAKAYUKI for GP Selvage Wool 6 Panel Cap

――By the way, these hats are released as unisex. Is there such a thing as an optimal pattern that works regardless of gender?

Kijima: Hats aren't like clothes - patterns don't change that extremely. Sizing can make it work either way. In fact, when women wear a size larger, it can look more attractive. Surprisingly, for both men and women, most people who say "hats don't suit me" are simply wearing the wrong size.

Minami: So just going up one size can suddenly change how it looks.

――Lastly, Minami, what styling would you recommend?

Minami: I think you could wear the full look in this fabric, but even if not, we have pants, jackets, and coats in the same material, so you can arrange those in your own way and then add the hat - and I think that would make it even cooler. Graphpaper suits follow the fundamentals of tailoring, but they're not stiff, formal suits - you could wear them and skate, that kind of casualness. So I like that balance: the fabric is clean and refined, but pairing it with a street-type cap or bucket hat.

Photo by Masato Kawamura @masatokawamura_

KIJIMA TAKAYUKI

www.kijimatakayuki.com/

Designer Takayuki Kijima. From 1990 to 1994, he apprenticed for five years under leading hat designer Akio Hirata. He was involved in hat production for Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Comme des Garçons, and acquired European haute-couture techniques. In 1995, he established an atelier in Daikanyama, Tokyo. In 1999, he opened a directly managed store for his former brand, coeur. In 2013, he renamed the brand to his own name, KIJIMA TAKAYUKI, and launched independently from coeur, starting with men's and women's lines. Hats made carefully, one by one, by artisans with advanced skills create a soft, comfortable wearing experience that cannot be achieved through mass-production methods.